[Location] Stories in the Snow

[Aspen]

Stories in the Snow Nestled deep within the city of Avanthal lies the City Library. This large stone building compromises 3 rooms. The first and the largest being the main library itself. It is all on one level, it is divided by subject matter, and then sub-divided alphabetically. At the end of a few of the aisles is a pair of comfy, well worn chairs and a small table. A couple of the aisles have larger spaces between them, and these spaces are filled with large tables, surrounded by chairs to use for studying. Books on all manner of subjects can be found within the library walls, some older and more time-worn than others. Only one or two copies of each book are present however, since Avanthal is so far north that attaining new material is difficult, only happening once a year. Near the entrance to the library is the desk. There is usually someone behind it at all times of the day and night, and that is where one would go for enquiries or to check out a book. The second room is a lot smaller, and unavailable to the general people of Avanthal. It is a little office where the accounts and stock lists are written and kept. A couple of tables, some chairs and some cabinets are all the furniture found in this area, just enough to be able to update the information comfortably. The final room is accessed by going through the office area. It is a space reserved for the care and upkeep of books. Here, the curator mends spines, fixes in missing pages, binds fresh books and re-stamps worn titles. (NPC) Felix Naturdan : Name: Felix Naturdan Race: Human DoB: Winter 18, 436 AV PoB: Zeltiva Title: Head Librarian Skills: Organization 70, Writing 40, Anthropology 30, Calligraphy 20, Bookbinding 60 Gnosis: 1 Mark of Morwen and 1 Mark of Eyris The Chief Librarian of the Avanthal Library, Felix has lived well into his seventies. He has a friendly, time-lined face, and is usually found bundled in various jumpers. He came to Avanthal around 35 years ago with the intention of sharing his vast collection of knowledge he had collected over his travels of Mizahar. He treats books with the utmost care and respect, and while friendly, he will not be happy if you mistreat one of the many volumes available. (NPC) Jack Skyglow : Name: Jack Skyglow Race: Vantha DoB: Spring 19, 493 AV PoB: Avanthal Title: Copyist Skills: Calligraphy 40, Storytelling 20, Writing 30, Organization 20 Gnosis: 1 Mark of Morwen Jack is a quiet young Vantha. As a member of the Skyglow Hold, he holds creative skills, mainly in calligraphy. He can utilize a number of scripts to create decorative or printed texts. As such, he works at the Library as Felix’s assistant. He has the job of copying volumes whose pages have faded with time, thus creating new books, and also fixing up single pages that have been damaged or otherwise worn. He also helps to manage the organization of the shelves and returns borrowed books to their correct place. Organization and Book Info : The organizational system used by the library is fairly simple. The books are organized into clear section by subject matter, for example cooking or animal care. Within the subject matters, the books are then organized alphabetically by title. The library is not the biggest in Mizahar, and so a few sections are limited in what they can offer. No more than two copies of each book are present – there is more likely to be only one. Some subjects are harder to find than others. Books on the Gods and Goddess are few, and books on some magics are rarer. However, there is an abundance of profession and history books. Books that have been taken out need to be recorded in the ledger on the front desk. Rare books (those on the subject of gods and goddesses and magic) cannot be loaned and taken outside.These can only be borrowed inside the library. The time a book can be loaned for ranges from 20 to 40 days before the books are due, and this is mostly dependent on the rarity of the book as well as its demand among library-goers. When a book is returned past it's due date, the borrower is obligated to pay 2 CM for every day that had passed before the title was returned to the library. However, one can renew their loans 5 times without having to return it to the library. Any books returned damaged must be paid for. The price is dependent on the book, ranging from 5 GM to more than 200 GM. Training : Training Available Writing Copying

[Coren]

6th of summer 511th Coren let out a sigh as he looked at the doors of the city library. He really didn't want to get a job, but his mother and father finally put their foot down and put an end to his mooching of. So the ultimatum was simple, either he would get a job and pay for his own food or he was going to work of the 'debt' he racked up with them by being an apprentice under his father. And no way in hell he was going to tire himself out with that work though. Not when he knew the library could always use a few extra people, and how hard could working in a library of all things be? He pushed open the door and confidentially walked towards the man standing behind the counter. “Hello, my name is coren skyglow and I am here for a job.” Coren said with a friendly smile on his face. Though since it was covered up with his mask it wouldn't be seen anyway. “And I heard that the people at the library could use some extra help. Is that still the case?”

[Aspen]

Jack looked up from behind the counter as the library door opened, silently observing the young Vantha enter and approach the desk. A single eyebrow raised as the man spoke, his words blunt and to the point. Jack carefully set his pen down onto the book he had been copying. “Yes, we could do with a hand.” He stood and walked out from behind the desk, motioning to the Vantha to come with him. “Follow me, you will need to talk to Felix.” He then set off down the rows of books, making sure the Vantha was following. They quickly reached a large table between to aisles. An old human man was seated at one, paging through a faded tome. Jack approached him. “Felix, this is Coren. He wants a job.” The man looked up from his reading and fixed his eyes on the Vantha – Coren. He nodded once and waved a hand at Jack, who walked away, returning to the front desk. Felix then motioned for Coren to step forward. “What are you good at hm? You don’t look like a scholar boy.”

[Coren]

Coren smile underneath his mask became even wider as the vantha behind the desk said they could indeed use some help and motioned him to follow him, presumably leading him towards that felix person he needed to talk to to get the job. Keeping pace with the vantha, his eyes wandering briefly over the bookshelves they passed, idly wondering if there would be any books on magic in the library. Well it seemed he got another reason to get a job here if there where. Almost unlimited study time without his family being able to find out. He didn't have a long time to think about things like that though, since within no time they arived at a table crammed in between two aisles. An old human was sitting at it, paging through a book that looked like it had seen some use already. When the man who had led him here spoke up he looked up from the book and stared straight at him and send the other man back to the front desk. Taking a step forward at his request. Winching inwards at felix's statement that he didn't look as a scribes boy. “Well I don't really am a scribe to be honest.” Coren confessed. “But I don't have any talent in the skills of my hold nor do I have any will to be an artist, and I don't think working as a clerk in the library would be to hard, I mean I would just have to put the books back on their right place and check them in and out at the counter right?”

[Aspen]

Felix folded his hands on the book before him, scrutinizing the boy with his steely grey gaze. It was just as he had suspected. This boy was no scholar, he doubted that he held much interest in books at all. It was unusual for a child to show no interest in his own Hold's craft, though not unheard of. Fleix wondered what it was that made this boy tick. "If you've come here looking for an easy job, you're out of luck boy." Still he watched the lad. "If you come to work here I expect you to be diligent at all times. Just because it is a library, a place of peace, it does not mean you can be lax in your work." Fleix leaned forwards onto his arms. "If you work for me, you will be helping people locate books, you will be monitoring those that are checked out, you will be returning books to shelves. However that is not the half of it. I also expect you to ensure that every shelf in this place is organized correctly, and if they are not, you sort it out. Also, you will need to examine the books as you go, making sure they are in good condition." He spread his hands over the pages of his book. "Are you up for it lad?"

[Coren]

Coren shifted a bit underneath the old man's gaze, wondering what exactly was going through the head of the old man as he was staring at him. Was he trying to figure out why he was wearing so much clothing or something? He quickly put that thought out of his head as the man suddenly began to talk again, describing the work he was going to have to do and calling him out for thinking this was going to be an easy job. Still it was either work in the library or find another job, most of it was probably going to be a lot harder on the body then working in the library like being loaned to the frostfawns to muck out the stables or something like that. Besides he didn't doubt he could find a few moments away from him and just relax, or look as if he is busy with storing the books away and just look around for any of the books on magic. And even then, the things that felix just summed up didn't sound to hard. “Well I'm up for it, so when do I have to start?”

[Aspen]

A single brow raised on the old man's face. He paused for a long moment, perhaps a full chime before he leaned back in his chair. "Very well then. I will hire you on a 3 Miza daily salary." Still he scrutinized the boy under his steely gaze. It was in no way a mean stare, it was more... evaluating, like he was trying to gather information on Coren just by looking. "You will work hard here, and you will listen to both myself and Jack. He wants you to do something, you do it, understand?" "Come back tomorrow morning, nice and early. Eighth bell. Talk to Jack - he will tell you what you have to do." Felix nodded and waved a hand at Coren, telling him that he could go. ooc : Consider yourself employed! Your wage will be 3GM a day. If you can earn skills in writing, you may earn yourself a promotion. To earn your wage each season, make sure you post at least 3 threads regarding your job. For this season, talk to Cheshire about wages - I am not sure if you shall get full or partial.

[Kaito]

28th day of Fall 511AV Kaito gently opened the doors to the library. She was excited. Today she would verify her route to Lhavit before heading off in the morning. Over the past few weeks she had been here quite often looking over a variety of maps and books to see what the easiest way to go would be. Looking towards the counter, she saw Jack, to whom she waved her greeting before heading back into the main room in search of her query. Padding softly down the rows, she reached her destination and pulled an older looking book of maps off the shelf before turning back towards the tables on a large aisle. Kaito plopped herself and the book down as she opened it about half way. There was a detailed map of both the Taldera and Kalea regions running her finger over the page, she traced through her trail. First she would head out the gates and towards the Spires. Then she would stop in Denval before finally arriving in Lhavit. It would be a long trip, but she was more than willing to take it. It was one of the reasons she had her Windrunner. Kaito continued to flip through the pages a bit longer before returning the book to its location on the shelf and heading back towards the front. With one last friendly wave to Jack, she left.

[Kaiielle]

82 Day of Fall, 511 AV Kaiielle opened the library's door, pulling down her cloak's hood and offering a smile to the shopkeeper. She quickly made her way over to the book section she wanted, browsing though all of the poetry books. She flipped her hair out of her face as she picked the interesting looking books from their place, skimming though them and putting them back until she found one she liked. Lightly dusting off the front of it, she found the title, "Devoid of Nothing: A Poet's Collection of Love, Loss, and Pride". It seemed depressing enough, but that's the sort of thing Kaii always resorted to to make herself feel comforted through hard times. Knowing that someone had felt the same way as her always helped the sting fade away. Holding the book to her chest she made her way to the front desk to check it out. She wrote down her name and the book title on the ledger then set down the quill. "Thank you," she said to the shopkeeper, a small smile on her lips. She pulled up the hood of her cloak and made her way out back into the city of Avanthal.

[Geothryn]

5th of Summer, 512 AV Geothryn had come to Stories in the Snow with the intent to check out a book. What book, he had no clue, but as he walked up and down the aisles, looking at the wall of books that made up each bookshelf, he found himself settling on one particular cover, in the scarcely populated Magic section. On Shielding: A Basic Introduction was a leather-bound tome with gilded letters, about an inch thick. He opened the book and carefully flipped through the pages. The print wasn't too small, and there were a few illustrations depicting different techniques, as well as proper ways to meditate, among other things. Shielding sounds useful, Geothryn mused as he looked at the tome. Yes, this would be the book he started with... He wrote his name and the title of the book in the ledger. "I don't know how long I'll be needing this. I suppose as long as it takes for me to study it. Maybe... Two months?"

7th of Summer, 512 AV Geothryn strode into Stories in the Snow wearing his usual black woolen clothing, accented by a simple cloak. Atop the cloak on his back rested his Lute case, presumably with the lute inside. He took it with him wherever he went. Approaching the desk, Geo smiled at the younger man behind the desk. "Hello! Jack, is it? I was here a few days ago. I've come back because this place absolutely fascinates me, and I had to find out if there were any job opportunities here. I can read and write, and I believe I can count to... Ten? No, twelve!" He laughed, speaking in Vani, the flowing tongue making his speech eloquent to anybody who didn't understand it. "Jests aside, I would like to seek employment. To whom must I speak? I assume there's an interview process of some sort..."